The Airport Cities World Conference and Exhibition 2015, one of the world's most influential civil aviation meetings, began on Wednesday in Chengdu, the capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province.

Nearly 600 delegates from worldwide airport administrations, government agencies, major airports, airlines and companies in the airport-related economy will discuss how to jointly build airport cities and boost the airport-related economy at the three-day event.

More than 40 high-ranking government officials, professionals from related companies, as well as academicians will deliver speeches on opportunities and challenges China will face when developing aviation cities, how to promote cooperation among China and other Asia-Pacific countries on development of airport cities, as well as innovations in airport design and logistics.

Participants in the aviation event include leaders from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the Sichuan and Chengdu governments, highranking officials from the consulates in Chengdu of the United States, France, Singapore, New Zealand, Thailand and Sri Lanka, as well as professionals from the field of world airport city planning, construction and operation.

More than 60 top administrators from domestic and foreign airlines including United Airlines, British Airways and Etihad Airways attended the conference and exhibition.

Also attending are some 30 executives from domestic and foreign airports including Pittsburgh International Airport, Edmonton International Airport, Haneda Airport and Changi Airport.

The conference and exhibition is expected to make Chengdu become more influential and better integrate the Belt and Road Initiative, which was proposed by President Xi Jinping for economic cooperation among countries along the routes, local media reported.

Chengdu will become the second city in China, following Beijing, to hold the event since it started in 2002.

It shows that the sponsor, London-headquartered UBM, recognizes Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport as a hub airport in China and appreciates the construction of the city's airport economic area as well as the development of other economic and social fields, according to the Sichuan Province Airport Group, organizer of the event.

A bulletin on China's airport production in 2014 issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China shows that the passenger throughput of Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport reached 37.67 million last year, ranking it fifth among all 202 civil airports on the Chinese mainland.

The airport's growth rate of passenger throughput in 2014 was the highest.

Chengdu remains China's fourth-largest hub for air travel, following Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Passenger throughput at the airport in the first quarter of 2015 reached 10.18 million, an increase of 13.3 percent from the same period of the previous year, and local media forecast passenger throughput in 2015 to surpass 40 million.

Statistics show that as of May 9, the airport had 82 flight routes that connect Chengdu with 71 cities in other countries and regions as well as 163 routes from Chengdu to 119 Chinese cities.

There are more than 60 flight routes connecting Chengdu with 30 countries along the routes within the Belt and Road Initiative, which lays a solid foundation for the city to integrate the initiative.

Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport is the only airport in Central and west China that has direct flights to both the US and Africa.

It also offers more flight routes to Europe and the Middle East than any other airport in Central and west China.

Sichuan Airlines launched direct routes from Chengdu to Moscow on May 2, making it the first city in Southwest China to offer direct flights to the Russian capital.

The company announced it would begin a route from Chengdu to Jeju, a popular island resort in South Korea, beginning on Saturday.

Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport has become influential in recent years.

It was honored as one of the best airports in China at the World Airport Awards held by airline consultancy Skytrax in March.

The airport was voted one of the highly commended airports at Routes Asia, or the Route Development Forum for Asia, in 2013 and 2014.

The Sichuan Airport Group, which runs the airport in Chengdu, hosted Routes Asia in 2012, which attracted more than 600 participants, and will host the 22nd World Route Development Forum, widely considered the civil aviation's world expo, next year.

Nearly 3,500 guests will attend the forum, according to the airport company.

Chengdu is preparing to build its second airport, which will make the city the third on the Chinese mainland to have two airports, following Beijing and Shanghai.

Apart from aviation, other kinds of transportation in Chengdu are also developing well, local media reported.

Since the launch of the Chengdu-Europe railway service in April 2013, cargo worth $580 million has been transported to Europe. As one of the fastest ways for cargo transport, the railway links big cities in west China to European continent, opening up a modern silk road for business and cultural communication.

Chengdu signed deals with Wuhan and Luzhou, two other cities on the Yangtze River, to jointly build an international logistics route based on their railway services and river transportation.

A logistics route involving Shanghai, Luzhou, Chengdu and Europe is also being planned, which will enable companies in those regions to import and export goods either by sea or rail.

Chengdu now has a well-developed highway freight distribution system offering more than 200 highway freight routes.

The city will become a regional logistics center in west China and boast a worldwide influential logistics service system by 2020, according to the Chengdu logistics development office.